Chapter 8 - First Impressions

Yi Cheng quickly slipped out of the bed, leaving the six highly willing girls behind. Outside of the bed he started searching for his clothes, but he failed to find anything.

Waiting another week to start his training was not an option that Cheng was willing to consider. He had waited many years for a chance to start cultivating, how could it possibly be delayed due to a night filled with booze and whores?

The young actor decided to pick up a silk robe without much frills, slipping into it with a certain degree of shame. He didn’t wish to borrow women’s clothing, but necessity knows no law.

He hastily hurried towards Jia-long’s house, hoping that he would not draw too much attention to himself. But a young man dressed in a colorful robe which obviously belonged to a prostitute was an uncommon sight, even in a town of outlaws such as Dragon Spit.

“Who is that?” asked Qiang Mei as she watched Yi Cheng run through the streets in his embarrassing outfit, a smile adorning her face.

“That’s most likely Yi Cheng,” answered someone in the group of men accompanying her.

“The actor?” asked Qiang mei.

“Could be, but why would he join a gang?”

“Oh well. I can find out later,” said Qiang Mei, “I shouldn’t keep my students waiting.”

Jia-long was baffled when his friend showed up at his door wearing a woman’s robe, but he understood the actor’s predicament after a short explanation. He quickly asked a servant to find more suitable clothing.

The servant returned with a knee-length hemp tunic and a simple woolen vest to wear on top of it. They were obviously hand-me-downs that even the servant wouldn’t wear if he could help it. “I am sorry master, but this all I could find.”

“You would dress a friend of mine in rags?” asked Jia-long in a stern voice.

“They will do just fine brother,” interjected Yi Cheng, “I can’t expect silks or battle armor to miraculously appear out of nothing. I should hurry and put them on.”

After changing into the old cloths that even a poor man would be hesitant to wear Yi Cheng thanked his friend for his hospitality and the clothing before hurrying towards the training grounds.

Once he arrived at the back of a large crowd he was fairly certain that he had reached his destination. While catching his breath he looked around. Not too far in front of him there was a large empty square visible, the ground covered with sand instead of wooden planks like the rest of the city. He had no clue why no one entered the training grounds yet, but he held his tongue and waited.

Four minutes later the sound of a loud gong resonated through every cell in his body. Once his body stopped vibrating he realized that most of the crowd had already entered the training grounds. He quickly followed them, excitement welling up inside of him.

If it had been the army, silence and neatly lined up soldiers would have been the next step, but these training grounds were inside of a city run by a gang. Naturally this meant that the grounds were filled with laughter, idle chatter and gossip.

Once the sound of the gong reverberated through everyone again it became silent immediately.

In front of the crowd appeared four rugged looking men, the youngest was no younger than thirty-three and the oldest no older than forty-five. The oldest amongst the bunch, a bald bulky man carrying a large axe on his back, spoke up, “Stop wasting time. Assume the Qi Establishment Stance.”

Yi Cheng had heard of the Qi Establishment Stance, but he didn’t know how to assume it. He looked around him and saw everyone taking the exact same stance. Legs spread apart, both knees bend as far as you would during a squat, both hands closed into fists, wrists crossing in front of the chest. This hand gesture was also known as the strength gesture or the diamond mudra* to Buddhists.

After seeing other people take the Qi Establishment Stance he was entirely confident in his own capability to follow their example. During his acting career he had performed many intricate plays with challenging choreographies. His skill in copying other people was outstanding.

Before he could assume the stance a woman appeared before him. She looked like a sixteen year old maiden, but Cheng’s intuition told him that she was at least nineteen years of age. She had a fair complexion, lively brown eyes, rosebud lips and neatly-combed brown hair, partly bound in a ponytail. She was wearing a tunic and skirt made of sturdy leather and soft silk. Over the clothing she wore pieces of armor, covering her vitals.

While Yi Cheng was still looking at her, she moved closer. She placed her hands on the insides of his thighs, pushing them down. After correcting his knees, she gave a soft kick to his right feet, moving it into position. After that she moved behind him, placing her hands on his lower back, pushing it forward. When she moved to stand in front of him again, he felt his ass cheek getting pinched.

“Did she just pinch my ass?” thought Yi Cheng as he made fists out of his hands.

The girl took hold of his wrists and moved them until they formed the proper gesture. After taking a final look at her work, she beamed proudly, “You owe me ten silvers Timid Tiger.”

“I thought the lessons were free,” said Yi Cheng.

The girl snickered after the actor spoke, “You’re cute.”

The youngest of the four rugged men, the one carrying two double-edged straight swords, threw the girl a stack of coins, “Double or nothing. I say he can’t hold that stance for more than ten minutes.”

“Ha. Your wife will be angry at you again tonight,” said the young woman.

“Why that?” asked Timid Tiger.

“Since you are just begging me to take your money,” said the armored beauty matter-of-factly . While the rest of the rugged men laughed heartily at the statement the woman leaned in towards Yi Cheng, whispering him, “If I win, I’ll let you wear my clothes.”

Yi Cheng wanted to know why people were betting on his training, but what he truly wished to know was why this girl thought he would want to wear her clothes.

After five minutes Cheng had trouble maintaining his stance. The young actor did not have a poor physical condition, but he had never trained his body through usual training methods. He mostly stayed in shape through walks, hikes and through dancing both vertically and horizontally.

As Cheng’s legs were starting to cave in, Timid Tiger said, “Told you so. Not even ten minutes.”

“You haven’t won yet,” answered the girl.

The nine minute mark had just passed when the young actor threw in the towel, collapsing onto the sand, heaving.

“Hah! You owe me twenty silvers Qiang Mei,” shouted Timid Tiger loudly.

Qiang Mei opened a small pouch and withdrew a handful of coins, tossing them towards the sword-wielding warrior. He caught most of them, but he had to pick up a few from the sand, “Thanks dear, my wife will be most pleased.”

The other weapon wielding warriors who had laughed at Timid Tiger previously now laughed with him. Qiang Mei ignored them, walking towards Yi Cheng. She put an arm around his shoulder, “You are pathetically weak, but at least you’re cute.”

Yi Cheng was in no state to protest, but he managed to say a few words through his ragged breathing nonetheless, “One step at a time.”

Qiang Mei knew the proverb and smiled at his words, she stood up before saying, “No worries. I’ll whip you into shape soon enough.”

The majority of the people on the training grounds were still maintaining their Qi Establishment Stance, but almost all of the remaining ones were now struggling to do so.

After forty minutes there wasn’t anyone left standing on the training grounds. Yi Cheng didn’t understand this, surely people should be able to hold a stance so similar to a squat much longer than forty minutes?

He asked a man sitting a few paces away to explain why no one was capable of holding out longer than forty minutes. The man laughed and asked a question in response, “Did you even try to visualize the mantra?”

“What mantra?” asked Yi Cheng honestly.

The man started laughing, “So you collapsed in less than ten minutes… without using the mantra?”

Yi Cheng was getting tired of being called weak on every occasion, but he calmed his mind and asked again, “What mantra?”

“Path and purpose, here united,” answered the man once he stopped laughing.

“Thanks," said Cheng, failing to understand how a single sentence could possibly make a difference.

Cheng was somewhat angered that he had wasted part of his day on something which had obviously been useless, but he soothed himself with the knowledge that the next time he would not be wasting his time.

After the training had officially ended Cheng noticed that Jia-long was waiting for him at the edge of the training grounds. He quickly walked over to him.

“Good news brother,” said Jia-long, “I found you a house.”

* Mudra – Hand Seals in Sanskrit.